Data Collection
by intransient-adventure
Summary: Just a little expansion on everyone's favorite Cophine scene in 1x08. More to come soon.
1. Chapter 1

_April is really far away. So, instead of making the healthy choice and distracting myself with real-life things, I'm writing fanfiction. This will definitely be getting a few more chapters in the very near future (or maybe the not-so-very-near-future, because occasionally real life does get in the way), but this is it for the moment. Just a fun little expansion on everyone's favorite Cophine scene in 1x08. Feedback both positive and negative is very much appreciated._

_I own nothing involving Orphan Black. Obvs._

* * *

Data Collection

A few twigs. The butt of a cigarette. A soggy handbill.

Delphine stood tall, shoulders tense, fingers wrapped tightly around the straps of her purse. She was momentarily grateful for the gloves she wore, for had her hands been bare her nails would already have broken the skin of her palms.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Her heart beat erratically, abnormally. She could feel it in her ears.

_Focus_, she told herself.

The longer she stared, the more details she accumulated. She strained to fill her mind with the nuances of the building's doorstep, striving to push all other thoughts from her mind.

Scattered twigs. The butt of a cigarette crushed against the pavement. The crumpled handbill plastered to the moist concrete.

_Dig deeper, faster. Cosima's safety is at stake._

Her posture stiffened, her grip tensed. She stared more intently.

_Focus._

The scattered twigs. The crushed cigarette. The crumpled handbill.

The handbill.

_Focus_.

"Join the Literature Club for a Reading of George's Orwell's _1984_!

Tuesday, December 14th, Room –"

Delphine's eyes pressed shut.

_Merde_.

She redirected her gaze to the doorway before her. She had been here before, but it had never seemed so _tall_. She stretched her spine, visualizing her vertebrae stacking neatly atop one another, trying to grow herself as tall as that doorway. It didn't help. She dropped her gaze to the ground again.

The twigs, the cigarette, the han—

She snapped her head up in frustration. She stared determinedly at the doorway. There was no use delaying any longer; the chill in the air was beginning to get to her, and her thoughts were not getting any quieter.

She stepped gingerly to the threshold, pulled the massive door open and stepped inside.

She shifted her purse to hang from her elbow, absently removed her gloves, and stuffed them into her left jacket pocket as she made her way down the corridor.

_I need to know which ones she in contact with._

Would Cosima tell her, if she asked her outright? It was a ridiculous thought, but she couldn't help but wonder. While Delphine did not know for certain, she had a feeling… she was sure Cosima knew far more than she let on. She could feel it when those brightly curious eyes regarded her with such intensity, could see it in the way she had stared so coldly at Leekie.

Cosima knew about the clones. She had to.

But did she know about Delphine? About Leekie? She behaved as though she was buying the act, and yet… something seemed off. Delphine could not shake the feeling that Cosima was playing her, as well.

And the kiss? How did that fit in?

_Focus_, she told herself again. _Remain impartial_.

She turned up the stairwell and ascended slowly, gripping the handrail in a half-hearted attempt to steady herself.

This was simple. She could do this. She only needed to find a way to obtain access to Cosima's apartment, to search it when she was away. If Cosima knew anything, there must be some clue in her apartment. She only needed a chance to find it.

_Where are you with Cosima?_

She remembered Cosima's lips on hers and felt suddenly warm and awkward and guilty. She tasted wine.

_Closer._

Cosima hadn't called. Since that night, she hadn't called. Delphine knew that she should not be surprised. She was the one who needed to reach out; she was the one who had left without any explanation. A few times she'd attempted to draft a text, but nothing seemed appropriate.

Nothing seemed honest.

Why should she care if anything seemed honest? Her task was simple. Just data collection, really. It was simple.

_Remain impartial._

She reached the top of the stairwell. She felt the blood flooding through her veins at an alarming rate, and while she understood the various biological processes that were causing this marked increase in speed, she could do nothing to slow it. She stopped herself a few feet from Cosima's door, making one last attempt to quiet her mind and slow her heart. This time, she gave up quickly. It would only get worse.

_It's just data collection_, she reminded herself. _Simple_.

She took a shallow inhale because it was all her body would allow her.

She knocked.

It took a moment, but Delphine soon heard the lock unlatch. She heard the door open, but found that she could not lift her eyes from the ground. She could feel Cosima's gaze on her, but still she did not look up. She stared instead at Cosima's bare feet, memorizing their detail.

"Hey… Delphine." She said, a hesitant smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Delphine could feel Cosima smiling – could hear it in her voice – and finally she looked up to meet her gaze.

"I… I hope I am not disturbing you," she managed awkwardly. She felt warm again.

_Remain impartial._

"Oh, no! No, no, no. Impossible," Cosima assured her, turning and walking past her desk. Delphine scarcely had time to take a breath before she continued:

"So, apparently I've got this thing for like, um, jumping to conclusions."

Delphine was caught off guard. She hadn't been quite sure how to breach the subject of their last encounter or how to explain her abrupt and graceless exit, but here Cosima was wanting to discuss it straightaway. Suddenly all of the explanations Delphine had rehearsed in the last twenty-four hours were inaccessible to her.

"You know, it's just that I've… never…" she stumbled.

"I know, I know, I know," Cosima cut in, saving her from her struggle, "You're not… you're not gay. And I'm a total idiot. So sorry."

"Hm," Delphine agreed, nodding a bit too forcefully. She knew she should say something, but instead she began to remove her coat.

"Oh, let me," Cosima said, reaching out to her.

"Oh, yes," Delphine responded, shrugging her coat off awkwardly. She felt warm and uncomfortable again, and suddenly she was all too aware of her arms and hands. She settled them inelegantly on her hips.

"Do you, uh," Cosima began, taking her coat, " I just want to make, like, uh, crazy science with you."

Delphine laughed a bit too eagerly.

Cosima smiled widely, glad to have broken the tension a bit.

"Totally crazy science," she assured her, taking the coat and draping it over a chair.

"I am so glad to hear that," Delphine began hurriedly, moving to her purse. This encounter was going far more smoothly than she'd expected. They'd put the kiss behind them, and now she could go right back to plugging Leekie and DYAD.

_It was simple_.

"Because, you know what, I was, I was reading up on, on the DYAD institute," she continued, fishing a pamphlet out of her purse and opening it shakily.

_Simple_. _This is simple. Focus._

Then why was she stuttering?

"And, did you know that Dr. Leekie," she continued, "he has built a dedicated department for transgenic organ transplants, and—"

"Sorry," Cosima, said, cutting her off, "I was just dorking out so hard to their, um, extrapolation of murine models."

"What?" Delphine exclaimed, genuinely surprised that Cosima had given the DYAD materials a chance at all, let alone… what had she said? "Dorked out" over them?

Cosima pulled an identical pamphlet from a stack of papers, bringing it around to the desk and laying it out next to Delphine's.

"Yeah, look," she smiled, gesturing.

"Oh, wow," Delphine breathed. For a moment she forgot herself.

"You know, it's really, really good to finally meet someone who gets it."

"Mmm," Cosima nodded, continuing to stare down at the desk.

"Who gets… who gets me," Delphine confessed, staring straight ahead. She was surprised by her own sincerity. What was she doing?

_Focus. DYAD. The clones. Focus._

Now Cosima turned to look at Delphine, giving her a small smile. Delphine returned it, awkwardly.

"Yeah, ditto. Obvs."

Delphine felt her teeth pressing into her lower lip. _Talk about DYAD_, she told herself. _Tell her about the progress we've—ah, _they've_ made with stem cells. The murine models, talk about the muri—_

"I can't stop thinking about that kiss," she heard herself say instead.

"Uh, like in a… not bad way?" Cosima stammered.

"Oh like, I have never thought about bisexuality. I mean, for myself, you know? But, as a scientist I know that sexuality is a, is a, is a spectrum," she stumbled, finally landing on the right word. She felt warm and anxious. "But, you know, social biases, they, they codify attraction, contrary to the biological facts. You know," she tacked on lamely, smiling uneasily. She dropped her gaze to the floor, uncomfortable.

"That's… oddly romantic," Cosima smiled.

Delphine laughed: short and nervous. Now she held Cosima's gaze, and Cosima's face went from smiling to strangely serious. She watched her swallow. She watched her part her lips. She was acutely aware of Cosima's lips. Cosima stared openly into her eyes.

"And totally encouraging."

Delphine hesitated. She reached her hand out and stroked Cosima's cheek. It didn't feel wrong. She cupped her face, brushed her fingers over her lips. Cosima's eyes fluttered, but did not close. They stared right back at Delphine's, dark and wanting.

It was all she needed.

Delphine pulled Cosima into her, pressing their lips together.

_Merde_.

Okay, it was not too late. She could still rein herself in. Aldous had instructed her to gain Cosima's trust, after all. Sure, this wasn't the avenue she'd planned to take, but perhaps… perhaps she could make it work. Perhaps she could give in to this strange thing she was feeling. After all, the only rule was to get the information; Aldous had said nothing about method.

She felt Cosima's breath hitch against her lips and felt that warmth turn into a fire.

It was okay. She could do this. This was just curiosity; scientific curiosity, and a means to an end.

_Remain objective._

Delphine did her best to remain objective as she let her hands wander from the back of Cosima's neck down to her collarbone and around to her lower back. She did her best to remain objective as she awkwardly pulled Cosima's cardigan off of her shoulders and let her hands slide down to her ass. She continued her effort to maintain objectivity as she pushed Cosima into the desk behind them, as Cosima's hips arched up into hers, as Cosima's tongue pushed into her mouth, as Cosima's hand grazed her breast.

Her knees trembled. She steadied herself against the desk.

_Merde._

This had to be a thousand kinds of unethical. Sleeping with her boss was one thing, but at least Aldous was just a scientist. Cosima _was_ the science. She was the experiment they had created, and here she was kissing the experiment, stroking the experiment, moaning into the experiment. And the experiment was doing all of these things right back to her. Her head was spinning.

_Focus_.

It was becoming more and more of a struggle to remember anything that wasn't Cosima's hands ghosting down her back, Cosima's lips hot on her neck, Cosima's breasts pressing up against her own.

_Dig deeper, faster. Cosima's safety is at stake. I need to know which ones she in contact with._

Delphine hardly understood how or when it had happened, but somehow her sweater was now crumpled on the floor and Cosima's fingers were roaming the bare flesh of her back and abdomen. She struggled to rein her thoughts in.

_I need to know_ –

Cosima's thigh pressed up between Delphine's legs.

_Merde_.

She hadn't anticipated it being this difficult to remain in control, and she _had_ to remain in control. She was here for a reason, and this – whatever was happening now – this was not it.

_It was simple._

Cosima's hand traveled down Delphine's abdomen, hesitating at the hem of her skirt. She broke the kiss and looked up at Delphine, searching for some sort of confirmation or permission. But Delphine only buried her head into Cosima's neck, kissing down her collarbone and arching her hips up into Cosima's.

_It was supposed to be simple._

Cosima moved her hips back a bit to create space, guiding Delphine's lips back to her own and kissing her deeply. Tentatively she undid Delphine's belt, unzipping her skirt and pushing it a bit down her thighs, just enough to expose the top of her underwear. She slipped her hand beneath the skirt and between Delphine's legs. She heard Delphine's sudden, sharp intake of breath; she felt her grip tense and her body stiffen. She stroked her softly through the fabric of her underwear for a moment before sliding her hand back up.

Delphine's body relaxed. Her breath was still uneven.

Slowly, Cosima drifted her hand back to Delphine's lower abdomen, and this time she didn't falter. She lingered for only a moment before dipping her fingers beneath the fabric of Delphine's underwear. Delphine gasped. Cosima gasped. Delphine's hips arched.

"Oh my god," Cosima breathed, "You're so wet."

Cosima hadn't been expecting it. Hell, Delphine hadn't been expecting it.

_It was supposed to be simple._

Delphine felt frozen and on fire all at once. Until now she'd been able to fool herself into thinking she was still in control of this game. She'd ignored the shivers, ignored the warmth, ignored how easily Cosima could make her smile. It was just scientific curiosity. The science made her giddy. The science made her hot.

But Cosima was the science.

And Delphine was curious.

_Focus_, she told herself yet again, but by now it had become an empty mantra.

She felt Cosima's fingers moving against her, and suddenly all thoughts of science and cloning and consequences were gone.

Fuck it.

She didn't want to think anymore. She didn't care that Cosima was a clone, or that she was a woman, or that she was meant to be spying on her, or that this was probably one of the dumbest things she could be doing right now.

She only wanted Cosima.


	2. Chapter 2

So, remember that "real life" thing I talked about last time? Yeah, that totally got in the way. Anyway, better late than never, right?

* * *

_Giddy_.

When she'd first observed Cosima interacting with that gangly boy in the lab, she had felt giddy. _They were real_, she thought. _It was not a lie_.

_Incroyable_, she thought. _Miraculeux_.

She felt her skin flush and her pulse accelerate in a way it had not since her early days working in research labs, since before she'd even earned her PhD. Now _this_ was the kind of project scientists waited entire careers for. _This_ was the kind of experiment that could catapult humanity into an entirely new era of scientific research, and somehow she was a part of it. Somehow she'd been given this chance. She scribbled observations in her notebook, eager to get on with the next phase of the project. Eager to learn more about 324B21.

Her fingers twitched, drumming an impatient rhythm on the desk, itching to grasp her mobile. She waited. After so long studying the clones from the safety of a laboratory, she had finally been trusted to observe one first hand. Field research. Her body hummed with anticipation.

Finally, the awkward boy scuttled off, leaving 324B21 alone.

324B21. _Cosima Niehaus_, she reminded herself.

Her mobile rang, and she carried on speaking into the receiver as Aldous had instructed her to. _Get her attention, leave the transcript. She'll follow you._

"_How do you know for certain that she will follow?" she'd asked him._

_Aldous let his eyes amble down her form, smiling knowingly._

"_Trust me, he said. "She will."_

She could feel Cosima watching her from across the lab.

"Merde," she swore, ending her fabricated conversation and tossing her mobile aside.

It was in that moment when she looked up, briefly holding Cosima's gaze, that she felt it. It was small, very small, like a grain of sand had lodged itself uncomfortably between her heart and her rib cage.

_She is so human_, she thought. For some reason the thought made her uncomfortable, but it was a stupid thought, so she shrugged it off and continued on with her charade. She shifted her torso a bit, but the unpleasant sensation in her chest would not go away.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, gathering her things and hastening off.

The words felt strangely significant to her – much more so than they should have – and she felt that tiny grain of sand itching up against her breast. Her pure, childlike glee over her newly assigned role in this project flickered for only an instant, and for a second she felt that everything was impossibly large and enormously insurmountable and terrifyingly _real_. But the feeling flickered off again just as quickly as it had come on. She continued onward, her pulse sounding erratically in her eardrums as she settled herself against the antiseptic wall of the corridor, flushing with giddy anticipation.

But in the coming weeks that innocent excitement faded. Her flashes of panic became more frequent, and the weight in her chest grew heavier. She hadn't thought this through. She had seen only the science and the opportunity and the intrigue. Somehow she'd overlooked the quite obvious fact that she would be monitoring a _person_. The word "subjects" had been tossed around so often in the lab that she'd only ever really thought of them as such. And she certainly hadn't planned on caring about her subject; she hadn't planned to actually enjoy her company at dinner or to admire the quirky workings of her mind or to want to explore her body in a way that was probably entirely unscientific.

She hadn't expected her to be so disconcertingly human.

_Stupid_, she thought.

Every time Cosima smiled at her, whenever she laughed or reached for her hand, that grain of sand would weigh more heavily in her chest. It weighed heavier and heavier until she felt that she carried a rock beneath her heart, and no matter how she twisted and shifted herself to alleviate the discomfort it would continue to press and scrape against her insides.

_Too far_, she would think. She thought of her days back in the lab, safe behind microscopes and synthetic genomes and petri dishes. _I have gone much too far._

She laughed inwardly. If she'd believed she had already gone too far before, then now… well, now…

Now she was on fire. She felt the pressure of Cosima's hand lessen against her as it slid back outside of lace, fingers trailing wet around her hips, gliding along the vertebrae of her back and up to the base of her neck.

She shivered, pressing their bodies closer.

_I have gone much, much too far_.

She let Cosima pull her in for another kiss, her fingers – her _wet_ fingers, Delphine thought – still pressed firmly against the back of Delphine's neck. Cosima pressed her tongue against Delphine's lips, and Delphine heard herself moan. Her lips parted; she was losing control. She felt helpless. She felt unsafe.

She needed to act.

She shoved Cosima into the desk, tugging aggressively at her shirt straps and pushing her tongue forcefully into her mouth. Cosima moaned in surprise. Delphine snaked her hands hungrily down Cosima's sides, curling her fingertips around the hem of her tank top and pulling it up over her head.

She told herself she was just curious. She told herself that this was about the science. Science was safe. Science she could control.

_I need to know which ones she's in contact with._

Delphine rocked her hips against Cosima's, grinding her into the desk. She felt tall and clumsy and desperate.

_Cosima's safety is at stake._

She felt Cosima's hands on her waist, sliding her skirt off her hips and letting it fall to the floor. She responded by burying her fingertips in the folds of Cosima's skirt, tugging until it slid down her legs and to the ground. She backed Cosima against the desk again and kissed her open-mouthed down her neck, struggling to eclipse unwelcome thoughts with the taste and the smell and the motion of her.

_I need you to dig deeper, faster._

It wasn't working. She wondered if the others felt the same, moved the same, tasted the same. It was a strange thought, and she couldn't stop thinking it. She felt stupid and desperate, but she needed to drive out her mind's persistent clamoring of _DYAD_ and _clones_ and _Cosima's safety is at stake, _so she tried to lose herself in the detail of Cosima. She strained to memorize the specific shade and texture of her skin (_For science_, she thought). She absorbed herself with the taste and shape of her mouth. She learned the curve of her back, the rhythm of her movements, the timbre of her moans; she was all hastened exploration and frantic caresses because if she didn't fill her mind with these small things then she would remember all of the less-small things. The insurmountable things.

_Too far_, the voice in her head reminded her.

_I need to know which ones she's in contact with_, it pestered.

She arched her hips against Cosima and pressed her into the desk, hard. She needed to quell the incessant thinking.

"Take off your boots," Cosima breathed, still arched against the desk. She steadied herself as Delphine backed away and crouched down to pull off her boots, using the moment to attempt to organize her own turbulent thoughts.

Cosima watched the taut muscles of Delphine's forearms as she struggled to remove her boots, coordination lost in her fervor. Her eyes drifted to the tensed muscles of her abdomen, noticed the tremble in her fingers, and it suddenly occurred to her how very new all of this was to Delphine.

If anything she knew about Delphine were true, that is.

She hoped to God that Sarah wasn't right.

Suddenly Delphine's body was again flush against hers, hips arched, frenetic hands twisting themselves into her dreadlocks and drawing her forcefully into a messy, open-mouthed kiss.

None of this was what Cosima had expected. It was all too awkward and eager and utterly inelegant to be truly maybe this was not part of the lie; maybe this was the lie slipping. Maybe _this_ was Delphine exposed. Not the cool, lithe blonde who moved with such easy confidence, but this warm woman who moved so frantically and enthusiastically against her.

_Shut up, Cosima_, she told herself. _Don't go there_.

Delphine's hands untangled themselves from her hair and slipped down her neck and shoulders. Cosima felt long fingers clasp themselves around her wrist, pulling her hand down to brush lace.

"Please, Cosima," Delphine pleaded. But Delphine did not look at her. Her back was arched, her head tossed back, and her eyes squeezed shut.

Cosima hesitated. She still did not know all of the rules to this game, but something in Delphine's uneasy caresses and rough bursts of passion told her that they were now far, far outside the confines of whatever game Delphine had signed up for. It unsettled Cosima.

Delphine's mouth met her neck aggressively, all breath and tongue and teeth. She pressed Cosima's hand lower. Cosima could feel her jagged breathing, hot and wet into her shoulder.

"_Please_," Delphine repeated, burying her head in Cosima's neck. She was shaking.

_Too far_, Delphine thought. _Too far._

"Woah woah woah, Delphine," Cosima stopped her, bringing her hands up to Delphine's face and gently turning it towards her own. She looked squarely into her eyes, concerned and suspicious. Delphine wasn't sure which one terrified her more.

"Are you okay?" Cosima asked her, gently.

"Yes," she answered, but too quickly. Cosima regarded her skeptically. Delphine's pupils were dilated, shocked and guilty, but her reply was breathy and her gaze wanting. And then Cosima saw it: the thing about Delphine that had really begun to unsettle her. The thing that told her maybe this was not all part of the ruse.

Fear. Delphine was afraid. _Too_ afraid.

It was stupid, but she felt compelled to _comfort_ her. Felt compelled to comfort this woman who was in all probability a liar and a spy, who could very well be an orchestrator of illegal and unsavory cloning trials. At the very least, a woman who had signed up to study another human being as if she were a lab rat.

Or she might not know what she's doing. She might not know about clones. She might be like Paul.

_Don't go there, Cosima. You don't know. She could be dangerous._

But it was too late. It had been too late since the day she'd seen her sobbing in that shining white hallway. It had been too late since they'd sprinted so gleefully into the snow, giggling and smiling with arms and purses and wine bottles flailing about them. It had been too late when she had insisted on being so goddamned _European_ and kissed her on the side of the mouth like that. And it was still too late when she'd invited Leekie to their table, because even though Cosima _knew_ it then – saw through the flimsy charade – she still couldn't stop herself from hoping.

_But that's why I like her._

She wanted to believe it. Even if she could believe nothing else, maybe she could believe that.

Whoever she was – and whatever she was doing – Delphine was most definitely not okay right now, despite her too-quick "Yes." Cosima pulled Delphine's face to meet hers and kissed her softly.

"Okay," Cosima whispered huskily, forehead rested against Delphine's, "But let's slow down, yeah?"

But Delphine couldn't slow down. Slow meant thinking. Slow meant _DYAD_ and _focus_ and _clones_, and there was no space for that just now.

So she took control, pushing Cosima onto the bed, biting and clawing at her skin. She kissed her hard, knocking her glasses off. She covered her, moving frantically over her body, desperate in her attempt to fill her mind with every detail of Cosima's form.

Cosima could scarcely begin to match Delphine's hurried pace. She could only arch her head back and moan, clutching at the sheets, resigning herself to the effect this woman had on her.

Delphine was everywhere, losing herself in the nuances of Cosima's body, digging her fingers greedily into her back, pushing her tongue roughly into her mouth. She was in control. She could make herself forget.

_This was still simple._

She let her hands crawl down Cosima's back, digging too hard and trailing red inflamed skin beneath her fingertips. She straddled her, thigh between Cosima's legs, and pulled her hips up to press against her own. The rest of Cosima's torso followed, and Cosima seized Delphine's face to pull her in hungrily for a kiss. Delphine's hand dropped down between Cosima's legs, and she lingered over the lace there. A sharp intake of breath, and then she froze. Her eyes widened, and her hand remained still.

_She didn't know what to do._

She panicked, and her thoughts became a storm in her skull. The rock in her chest weighed heavy, scraping against her ribs.

_Merde_.

This time Cosima didn't bother asking _if_ something was wrong.

"Hey, hey, Delphine… Okay, what's up?" she asked, gently resting her fingertips on Delphine's hips.

Delphine couldn't answer. Her hand drifted back up to Cosima's waist, and she remained there, suspended, breathing shakily.

Cosima sat up halfway and brought one hand to rest on Delphine's cheek. "Hey, we can totally stop, you know," she tried to sound rational, but her voice was husky and her eyes dark.

"I… I'm sorry, I've never…" Delphine faltered, biting her lip nervously. She turned her head and fixed her gaze on the floor. Her skin pulsated with nervous energy, and she could do nothing to distract herself from it.

"Here, it's okay. It's okay," Cosima assured her, bringing her hands around to rest gently on Delphine's upper arms. There it was, that damned desire to _comfort_ again. "Let's just…"

She tilted her head up and kissed Delphine softly.

"Let's just…"

She shifted over so that Delphine was no longer on top, but beside her on the bed. She continued to kiss her delicately, using her fingertips to write gentle patterns into the flesh of her arms until she felt Delphine's body relax. Gradually, she rolled herself over so that she was on top of her. She sat up, straddling her, and let her hands roam up and down her abdomen. She watched goose bumps prick up on pale flesh. She dipped back down and captured Delphine's lips with her own, coaxing her body upwards. Delphine rose up to meet her, and Cosima brushed her fingers over the clasp of Delphine's bra.

Delphine tensed again, and Cosima hesitated before letting her hands drop. Instead, she reached up and slowly slid one strap off of Delphine's shoulder, pushing the fabric down to expose her breast. She planted a soft kiss there, pausing for only a moment before kissing her open-mouthed on her nipple. She couldn't suppress a small smile when she felt it harden against her lips. Delphine's hips arched up into Cosima's, nails digging deeper into her back. She let her head drop back and bit down on her lip, stifling a moan.

_Too much_, Delphine thought.

It was all too slow and too gentle and too…

The world _love_ flashed in Delphine's mind, but she buried it. It was ridiculous, and there were already far too many troubles vying for prominence in her mind.

_It was supposed to be simple._

Delphine wanted to go fast again. She wanted teeth and tongue and bodies pressing hurriedly up against one another. She wanted eyes closed and heads tossed back and nails digging into flesh. She needed to lose herself in that frenetic pace, needed it because when she slowed down she could feel the rock scraping her chest and the guilt hot on her cheeks and the immensity of the web she'd tangled herself into.

_She _is_ the experiment_, Delphine thought. The thought filled her with awe and guilt and heat all at once.

She wanted to go fast again, but Cosima held her in some sort of trance. Cosima knew all of the moves to this dance, and she was dancing it with deliberate and mesmerizing rhythm. She explored Delphine's body slowly, lingering everywhere with eyes and hands and lips. Delphine shivered, unable to move. Cosima lifted her hand to stroke her face, searching her eyes for some answer. Delphine didn't understand the question that Cosima was asking, but whatever it was it made her feel naked and vulnerable. A panic flared up in her. Cosima was seeing too much of her. Cosima would find her out. She shifted uncomfortably, and the rock scraped against her heart and sternum.

Nothing about this felt like science.

Cosima was pulling on some part of her that had remained untouched for a very long time, and it was dangerous. It was far too dangerous. Cosima continued her careful exploration of Delphine's body, and some irrational part of Delphine thought that Cosima might somehow find her out in this way; thought she would see written in the pattern of freckles on her back some clue to her deceit, or discover that the hairs on her arm somehow spelled out a warning.

She wanted to stop her, but she couldn't.

Cosima's hand slipped under her bra, and Delphine felt the ache between her legs intensify. She dug her nails into the bare skin of Cosima's back, pressing up against her.

Cosima planted slow kisses down Delphine's neck and collarbone, pausing at her breast to take her nipple into her mouth. Her mouth was open and her tongue hot. Delphine dug her hands into the bed sheets.

_Merde_.

Cosima continued her descent, gently pushing Delphine's thighs apart and settling herself between them. She sketched out careful patterns on the insides of her legs. Delphine could feel the tremble of her fingers, and her grip on the bed sheets tightened.

Cosima's fingers hooked into the lace on her hips, and Delphine knew that Cosima wanted nothing more than to peel the fabric away and expose her.

But she wasn't ready for that.

Cosima sensed it, and instead simply kissed her open-mouthed over her underwear. Delphine's hips arched up, and Cosima could feel her heat. She lingered for only a few moments before sliding back up and kissing her deeply on her mouth, knuckles pressed gently against her jawline, fingers gliding tenderly down her neck and collarbone. Delphine shivered.

Cosima sat up, drawing Delphine up with her. It was then that she pulled back a bit, fingers still resting on Delphine's cheekbones, and looked into her eyes searchingly. It took a great deal of effort, but Delphine held her gaze. The energy of it shook them both. Delphine felt her stomach twisting up. Her eyes flickered away for a second, but Cosima's gaze drew her back in.

This time, the answer to whatever question she was asking was _yes_.

Delphine kissed her, eager and open and not in the least bit frantic. Cosima smiled softly at the change. Slowly, she crept her hand down Delphine's abdomen, pausing at the hem of her underwear. She could feel the muscles there quavering. She could feel Delphine's whole body quavering. Delphine dropped her head back in anticipation, but Cosima used her free hand to rest her fingertips on her cheek and gently coax her head back up to meet her gaze.

She slipped her fingers beneath the lace and felt her, hot and wet. Cosima moaned. Delphine's breath caught in her throat. She tried to drop her head back again, but Cosima held her still. She watched her pupils dilate. She watched her lips turn impossibly pink. She wanted to see all of her.

_She knows_, Delphine thought. She was sure of it now. _And she's doing this anyway._

Delphine wished more than anything that she could look away, but she could not bring herself to do so. Cosima's gaze was magnetic. She continued to stroke her, continued to just _look_ at her, and Delphine could not take it any more. She couldn't watch Cosima and see those things in her eyes while she was doing _that_ to her, even though she _knew_, or she would come undone. So she closed her eyes and buried her face in Cosima's neck, arching her hips into her hand and trying her best to forget.

_Too far_, _too far._

She felt Cosima's free hand tangle itself into her hair. She felt her drop her head back to expose more of her neck, and Delphine began to kiss her there. When she felt Cosima's fingers slip inside of her, her whole body rocked. She gasped and bit down hard into Cosima's shoulder, digging her nails into her back.

_Trop loin, je suis all__ée__ trop loin!_

Cosima moved within her, slowly at first, and their eyes were locked again. Cosima still seemed to be searching for something, and Delphine feared that she might finally find it, because Delphine was beginning to unravel.

_She knows_, Delphine thought.

She dug her nails in deeper, leaving systems of red crescent moons all down Cosima's back as she continued to move within her.

_Trop loin, trop loin._

Cosima was on top of her again, and moving more quickly. Her thigh pressed into the back of her hand. Delphine had been struggling to hold onto herself, but now she completely lost control over her body. She felt terrified and powerless and liberated, and for at least those moments there were no thoughts of DYAD or of cloning or of spying. She could see only Cosima, could feel only Cosima.

Cosima, whose breath was short and hot against the crook of her neck… Cosima, who was oh so staggeringly and unexpectedly human.

_But that's why I like her._

Delphine brought her in for a crushing kiss, and Cosima's fingers curled inside of her. Delphine came apart. She could feel her molecules separating, DNA unfurling and chemical bonds breaking. Her body became a mess of atoms floating above the mattress and seeping themselves into Cosima's bed, into her body, into her life.

She hung in the moment for as long as she could, but her body fell slowly back together again. Her DNA twisted back up and her molecules reattached themselves into their former structures, but perhaps they couldn't remember precisely how they had formerly arranged themselves, because Delphine felt that everything within her hummed with a faintly altered frequency.

Cosima collapsed beside her, one hand draped over Delphine's stomach. Delphine felt the steady up and down of it, the rise and fall of her stomach becoming less pronounced as her breath returned to her. Delphine brought her hand up to rest over Cosima's, squeezing softly. Cosima looked over at her and smiled hazily. Delphine felt warm all over.

_Merde_, Delphine thought. _I like her_.

324B21_. Cosima._

She felt the rock weigh heavy in her chest again, and she couldn't stand it. She turned her body, lightly resting her fingertips on Cosima's cheek, and kissed her full and hot on the mouth.

_It was supposed to be simple._


	3. Chapter 3

Just wanted to say thanks to the reviewer who pointed out a few of my typos in previous chapters! I've gone back and fixed them (I think). Also, I would usually apologize/fabricate some excuse for taking so damned long to update, but I'm going to assume we've all been in too much of a frenzy/fuss/anxious breakdown over all of the Season Two spoilers released over the past month to notice or care (but seriously, is it April yet?).

* * *

"So, what is so important about this?" Delphine asked skeptically, thumbing through pages tattooed with jagged lines and neat rows of As and Cs and Ts and Gs. "What is it that I am looking for?"

Aldous Leekie simply stood back, grinning knowingly.

"What do you see?" he asked her.

"Well, it is a genome, bien sûr," she stated, "But I do not understand why you are showing this to me." She crossed her arms over her chest, glancing about the sparsely lit lab. Her uneasiness pricked up, as it had when Aldous had initially asked her to meet with him so far outside of normal work hours. As it had when he'd greeted her briefly, only to lead her abruptly down this obscure corridor and past a threshold requiring a security clearance she had not previously known existed. As it had when she'd realized that she and Aldous seemed to be entirely alone in this wing of the institute.

Alone in this icy, angular room.

Aldous smiled a crooked smile, and the hairs pricked up on the back of her neck. The chill in the room intensified.

"You don't find anything unusual about it?" he prodded. He had paused only slightly before curling his lips deliberately around the word _unusual_. His emphasis had the desired effect on Delphine. She shuddered.

Everything about this meeting and the demeanor in which it was being carried out gave Delphine pause. Her body buzzed with the uncomfortable feeling that she was about to become privy to information as fascinating as it was nefarious, but she couldn't muster the will to excuse herself from the situation. She felt strangely, irrationally drawn to this man and his genius.

She looked down at the genome and back again to Aldous. She had a queer feeling in her stomach.

"I see nothing unusual," she admitted, "But I expect that I am missing something. What is so exceptional about this particular genome?" She said it a bit cheekily, hoping to diffuse some of the tension that hung so tightly around her.

"Delphine," Aldous began, "What would you do if I told you –" he cut himself off. He needed to be sure he went about this in the best way. He paused, sitting back comfortably on his heels.

"How much do you know about human cloning?" he asked deliberately.

Delphine's blood froze for a moment. But… non, he could not be implying…

"It is not my area of… how would you say it? It is not my specialty," she offered cautiously.

"Delphine," he began again, "I would very much like to bring you in on this project. With your background in immunology you would be a crucial addition to our team. However," he paused, and a threatening seriousness crept into his eyes that sent shivers over skin already pimpled with goose bumps.

_Why did she feel so cold?_

Leekie's gaze was unwavering, and he leaned in close. Too close.

"I need to know that you can be trusted."

Delphine couldn't shake the notion that it was somehow a threat.

_Go ahead, say no. I dare you._

And she could have. She could have said it. A simple "no," a tactful "Thank you, but I do not think I am the right person for this project." She could have walked out without ever knowing. This was clearly something momentous, and she was not entirely certain that she possessed the nerve for it.

But still, this man and his work intrigued her.

Still…

"Yes," she said slowly, "You can trust me. Now what is this project?"

Aldous smiled.

"Good. Of course, I already knew that I could trust you, or you wouldn't be here. But I need to know that you can handle – well, I need to know that you're willing to go deeper. This project, it's revolutionary," he said, his eyes glowing frantic, "But it may be a bit further outside the bounds of legality than you're accustomed to."

"I assume that is why we are meeting in this manner," she answered flatly, arms still folded stiffly around her middle.

He grinned another of his sideways grins.

"Are you interested?"

Delphine bit her lower lip. She was hesitant, yes, but in the end her curiosity muffled her apprehension.

"Oui," she said resolutely, "Yes, I am interested."

Another smile. No matter what her response, always that same crooked smile. Always a sideways flash of those oddly perfect teeth.

"Delphine," he almost whispered, forcing her to lean in more closely. He seemed to enjoy the feel of her name on his lips. "Delphine, what would you say if I told you that we had succeeded in creating human clones?"

He said it slowly, savoring each syllable, relishing in the slow widening of Delphine's eyes, the gentle parting of her lips, the short, astonished inhale.

Her lungs turned to ice.

_Succeeded in creating human clones._

Her loosely balled fist rose to her lips, thumb and forefinger nearly pressing against teeth as she turned to consider the genome more closely. Aldous simply stood, waiting patiently. He wore that same smile, as if he'd known how this conversation would play out before it had begun.

She brushed her fingers over the pages of the genome, marveling at the billions of base pairs coded there. Base pairs linked and ordered by scientists. Her head was a whirl of _How?_ and _When?_ and _Who? _and_ Why?_, but her thoughts kept swarming around the _Who_. What kind of human was represented by the lines and letters splashed across these pages, and where was this person? Had she been unknowingly working alongside clones in the lab this entire time? Had she interacted with them? If what Aldous said were indeed true, then anything seemed possible. _He_ could be a clone.

But non, he was too old. A clone would be younger. But then, the telomeres of a clone would be shorter. Would they not age more rapidly? Or simply die younger? Non, non, it was an impossible thought. Human cloning, the notion of it, it was ridiculous. Entirely impossible, unfathomable, unethical.

Wasn't it?

_Clones?_ _Merde_.

Aldous watched her as she stroked her fingers carefully over the pages, her eyes wide, as if for Delphine that simple action somehow brought to life the human coded on the pages beneath her fingers.

She was in awe, and the slow smolder of _thrill_ and _potential_ and _breakthrough_ began to thaw her frozen insides. The air in the cold room now felt strangely hot and sticky against her skin.

_Incroyable_.

The corners of her mouth turned softly into an apprehensive smile, but she bit down on it.

_Outside the bounds of legality._

But she was already tumbling down the rabbit hole. She had tiptoed so cautiously to the edge of it. She had leaned only just faintly forward. She had stepped ever so carefully over the brink. But it didn't matter; she had chosen to fall, and now she could not un-choose it. Her stomach twisted.

_Merde._

But still, she couldn't stop that slow, cautious smile.

Aldous merely observed her silent reaction. That same cocky grin, that same air of omniscience.

"So," he said, smirking, "Where shall we begin?"

* * *

Delphine lay on her back, staring blankly at the ceiling. She was not quite close enough that she could feel it, but she could hear Cosima's breath flowing evening in and out of her nostrils. She closed her eyes and tried to match the slow, steady rhythm of it, but her own breath kept catching in her throat. She feared that the erratic and thunderous beating of her heart would wake her, but she could not calm herself.

_Merde, what have I done?_

She shifted herself uncomfortably, but she felt that her muscles stretched themselves across her bones differently than they had before. Tighter. Tenser. The heaviness in her chest was nearly unbearable, and she felt as if the cavern of her lungs had filled entirely with stone.

She turned her head to gaze at Cosima. She appeared to be asleep, at least for the moment, so Delphine allowed her eyes to roam over the woman's face and shoulders. She blushed when she dipped her gaze down to her breasts, wondering what they might look like unobstructed of lace. She blushed deeper when she realized she must have at one point seen the segments of Cosima's DNA that coded for her breasts: for the curve of them, for size of them, for the color of them. She had already seen all of the most intimate parts of her biology, and yet here she was, blushing at the half-covered form sunk into the mattress beside her.

_Merde. Merde, Merde, Merde._

In her mind, she traced her fingers over the pages of the genome Leekie had first showed to her in that dark, angular laboratory. It could have belonged to any of the clones, certainly.

But it could also have belonged to Cosima.

She lifted her hand from her stomach and brushed her fingers lightly across the length of Cosima's arm, following intently with her eyes. She saw the genome laid out over pale skin, the colorful bars twisting and intertwining themselves with the dandelion tattooed there. She traced her fingers along its stem, watching as its wispy seeds floated along her arm in a whirl of Cs and Ts and Gs and As.

She sighed, resting her hand over Cosima's, and curled her fingers around her wrist.

It was all too impossible.

_Yes, you can trust me. Now what is this project?_

She felt as though she might laugh or cry, but she couldn't wake Cosima. Not yet. She needed to collect herself again. It was just sex. Sex with a woman, yes, but still just sex. It didn't have to mean anything. It didn't have to.

It wasn't supposed to.

_But it had._

Cosima had made it _mean_ something. Delphine had sought to lose herself only for the moment, to perhaps sate her curiosity, but now she had lost herself so utterly that she could scarcely begin to locate the start of the returning path. _Curiosity_ now sounded a flimsy excuse.

_Non, remain objective._

Cosima was in danger. Aldous needed information. Information that he would use to keep Cosima safe. Objectively, it all seemed reassuringly clear.

But Cosima had made it _mean_ something, and experiments weren't meant to do that. Subjects weren't meant to do that. Subjects were meant to be manipulated, and not to manipulate. She was here to monitor and to research and to manipulate Cosima. Cosima, the experiment. Cosima, the subject.

_Cosima, 324B21._

Cosima's fingers twitched, raising goose bumps where they rested on the flesh of Delphine's stomach. Delphine shivered and turned her head, barely catching the small smile at the corners of Cosima's mouth. Delphine waited, but her subject's breath remained even. She was still asleep.

Cosima is in danger. Aldous needs information. Information that will ensure Cosima's safety. And part of her assignment was to keep Cosima safe, was it not?

Because of the experiment. To maintain the integrity of the experiment. Because that is the most important thing, non?

_You are helping her. She would understand._

As she gazed at Cosima, a brilliant and unbearable warmth began to glow in Delphine's chest. It roared through the rest of her body; something wonderful alloyed with shame and terror and a horrible burning sensation. It was all too much.

Delphine felt herself illuminated: terrified and elated and helpless.

She bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut, tilting her head back into the pillow to stay the tears that threatened to spill from the corners of her eyes. She had fucked this up so extraordinarily that it bordered on comedy. She stifled a bitter laugh, but it manifested itself instead in a choked sob. Her stomach shook, and Cosima stirred.

_Merde_, Delphine thought. _Not now_.

She could feel Cosima's gaze on her, but she did her best to swallow her sobs and maintain her composure.

"Hey, are you okay?

_Merde._

"Yes," she managed, eyelids pressed tightly shut. She swallowed another sob.

"You sure?" Cosima pressed. The concern evident in her gaze was marred only slightly by apprehension, but marred even more so by something that vaguely resembled hurt. For a flash of a moment Delphine yearned to lunge forward and kiss her, but instead bit her lip and sunk her head back into the pillow. She couldn't.

"I… I cry after sex with boys too," she offered lamely. It seemed to be enough for Cosima, although Delphine noticed that a soft vulnerability still lingered in her expression.

"Poor you," she teased, not pressing her further. Perhaps she didn't believe her entirely, but she said nothing more on the matter, instead turning her attention to the study of Delphine's hand. Her gaze was intensely serious, but her fingers moved inquisitively, carefully knitting themselves with Delphine's.

Delphine could feel her nerve endings set alight wherever the skin of Cosima's hand brushed against her own, and the little sparks that traveled up her arm radiated with a startling and increasing intensity as they dispersed throughout her body. It terrified her.

Delphine remembered the edge. She remembered leaning over it, unable to discern what might lie in those depths. She remembered her insides somersaulting over themselves. And she remembered jumping, despite it all.

She was falling. Had fallen.

She had made her commitment with Aldous, with DYAD. Compromising the experiment was not an option.

"But you know what?" Delphine began, smiling stiffly. It was a stupid idea to start with, but she had to start with something. Had to at least get Cosima out of the bed.

"I am never this hungry. I could kill for some ice cream."

Cosima should have grown suspicious. Cosima should have pulled her out of bed and into the icy air with her. Cosima should have offered her something else; anything she already had in her freezer. Anything she had tucked into the back of a cupboard. Should have teased her, or kissed her, or accused her, but not believed her. Anything else.

It shouldn't have worked. Not this easily.

Cosima beamed, and Delphine's chest was stone.

"Mmmm, okay. Your wish is my command," she purred, and Delphine couldn't suppress a weak smile. "I'm gonna go to the store and I'm gonna get us some Eskimo Pies."

_It shouldn't be this easy._

But perhaps now Cosima had let down her defenses. Perhaps now she trusted her.

_Or perhaps there is nothing here. Perhaps there is nothing to find._

"Eskimo?"

"Yeah," she responded, shrugging her coat on over her lingerie.

"I don't think I know it."

_Yes, you can trust me (You are helping her. She would understand)._

"No?" she said, gathering her hair back over her coat.

"No."

_Yes, you can trust me (Perhaps there is nothing here. Perhaps there is nothing to find)._

"Prepare yourself," she warned, settling her glasses on her nose, "You're about to become a craven addict."

Delphine smiled weakly.

_You can trust me._

"I think I already am."

Delphine remembered the edge. She remembered leaning over it, unable to discern what might lie in those depths. She remembered her insides somersaulting over themselves. And she remembered jumping, despite it all.

This time she hadn't tiptoed so cautiously to the edge. This time she hadn't leaned only just faintly forward. This time there was no careful step over the brink, no mental calculation of risk swayed only slightly by curiosity.

This time she had stumbled backwards and careened in a mess of tangled limbs over the edge of a precipice she'd never even realized was there. She had been sauntering so perilously close to it all along – so unwittingly, so perilously close – ever since _Enchanté_ and _I am so glad you came_ and _Okay, one day_ and _That's why I like her_. Ever since _I can't stop thinking about that kiss._

Cosima was meant to be malleable, manipulable, manageable.

This fall she hadn't seen coming.


End file.
